Injuries can herald the entry to the league of an under-rated second-string player who amazes everyone and becomes a hero (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger). Or they can show the lack of depth teams have or why those players were at second and third string.
The Jets game a Gillette Stadium against the Patriots looks like a good contest for the Jets if you look at the injury list.
| ||
NYJ | OUT | RB Derrick Blaylock (Ankle) QB Jay Fiedler (Right Right Shoulder) |
QUESTIONABLE | NT Sione Pouha (Calf) | |
PROBABLE | RB Curtis Martin (Knee) | |
NE | DOUBTFUL | T Matt Light (Ankle) |
QUESTIONABLE | T Tom Ashworth (Knee) | |
PROBABLE | QB Tom Brady (Shoulder) |
Except that the Jets have a giant-boatload more injuries that aren’t listed here, like QB Chad Pennington, C Kevin Mawae, LB Eric Barton, TE Chris Baker, T Jason Fabini, WR Wayne Chrebet, T Marko Cavka, S Andre Maddox, LB Darrell McClover.
Note: according to the above list (which is taken from NFL.com) Jay Fiedler injured his “Right Right Shoulder”. He’s not as bad as Rams’ QB Marc Bulger who has injured his “Right Right Right Shoulder” Steelers’; QB Charlie Batch is out with a “Right Right Right Hand” injury.
The Patriots list doesn’t include their IR players as well (like Rodney Harrison). However (the game has now started) the Pats are using most of the players listed as questionable.
Moreover the lists don’t (obviously) mention those who are just banged up. Both Jets’ QBs Vinny Testaverde and Brooks Bollinger have had injuries in the past two weeks.
Interestingly the team with the smallest injury list this week is the Chicago Bears, who only have Cedric Benson out with a knee injury.
Below is a list of all the injuries for week 13 (this does not include those on the Inujured Reserve list).
Injury Type | Number of Injuries of this type in Week 13 |
Knee | 50 |
Ankle | 28 |
Hamstring | 23 |
Shoulder | 15 |
Foot and Toe | 15 |
Calf, Fibula and Lower Leg | 11 |
Thigh and Quadriceps | 10 |
Groin | 9 |
Back | 8 |
Concussion and Head | 8 |
Elbow and Arm | 7 |
Hip and Pelvis | 6 |
Chest and Ribs | 6 |
Hand, Thumb, Wrist and Finger | 6 |
Neck | 5 |
Flu/Illness | 4 |
Tooth | 2 |
Abdomen | 2 |
TOTAL | 215 |
Obviously there is a problem with reporting errors with some team being as specific to say “quadriceps” while others say “thigh”, some say “flu”, and some say “illness”. So I have combined categories where it seems correct to.
Knees are the most injured body part, followed by ankles and hamstrings. The thumb had as many injuries (3) as the finger, the wrist and the hand put together. But it seems that if you want to do the un-sportsmanlike thing of removing an opposition player from the field it would a good idea to aim for the legs. Actually it was this idea that brought about the rule that a player cannot “lead with his head” in a tackle.
The Bengals have two players listed as probable with “tooth” problems. Perhaps the sugary colour of the uniforms has given the players cavities.
That’ll do for some morning analysis.
Mahalo
ps. This last photo shows how football is truly like a ballet (with 300lb 7 foot tall men).
1 comment:
Yeah, I injured my left left a while ago. Doctor said I was lucky and it was only second-degree. A few inches to the right and it coulda been a whole lot more messy.
Post a Comment